Surface water

Rivers and lakes

Polluted Mekong Delta river turns black, kills seafood

Pollution of the Cai Lon River flowing through Hau Giang Province has turned the water pitch black and killed fish at many farms. Local residents blame the pollution, which also causes the water to stink badly, on a nearby sugar factory discharging untreated effluents into the river. Hau ...

Pollution of the Cai Lon River flowing through Hau Giang Province has turned the water pitch black and killed fish at many farms. Local residents blame the pollution, which also causes the water to stink badly, on a nearby sugar factory discharging untreated effluents into the river. Hau Giang authorities say they have taken test samples of the water to find the cause and take remedial action.

Giving a dam about the Mekong

Originating in the Tibetan highlands and running through China, Myanmar, Thailand, Lao PDR, Cambodia, and Vietnam, the Mekong and its tributaries provide water, food and income for 60 million people. The longest river in Southeast Asia is home to the world’s largest inland fishery. It ...

Sheith Khidhir

Mine Lar’s Sut Lway jetty seeks to shed its bad image

Hidden deep in the forest about 250 kilometres from the notorious sin city of Mine Lar in Shan State is the decrepit Sut Lway jetty on the Mekong River. Despite its tumble-down appearance, Sut Lway is the gateway for an illicit trade in luxury motor vehicles and ...

Nanda, Chan Thar

Mekong Delta attempts to combat saltwater intrusion

Saltwater intrusion in the Mekong Delta is expected to increase between April 28 and May 6 as the volume of water flowing southward from the Mekong River will decline, according to the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development’s Irrigation Department. High tides from the sea are ...

Where the Silk Roads meet the mighty Mekong

Welcome to the China-Indochina Peninsula Economic Corridor, one of the key planks of the New Silk Roads, or Belt and Road Initiative (BRI).  The apparition on the Mekong is an under-construction bridge, part of the 420 km-long, US$6 billion worth high-speed railway connecting Kunming, in Yunnan ...

Pepe Escobar

Heart-to-Heart Talk with 6 People of the Mekong

The Mekong Butterfly had a heart-to-heart talk with 6 people of the Mekong — they are from 6 different communities in Thailand located on the Mekong riverbank. Despite informal atmosphere, topics of the discussion were very earnest around problems they have been facing from irregular ...

Mekong water level in Kratie set to decrease

The Mekong River Commission (MRC) said on Monday that the river’s water level in Kratie province is expected to decrease by 50cm to 1.5m from April 12-19, as the outflow from China’s Jinghong hydropower station is gradually reduced by half to accommodate the Dai ethnic ...

Khorn Savi

Cambodia's Endangered River Dolphins at Highest Population in 20 Years

For decades, Cambodia’s Mekong River population of Irrawaddy dolphins has verged on extinction. Once believed to have numbered in the thousands, the population began to plummet in the 1970s. During the violent reign of the Khmer Rouge and the years of war that followed, the dolphins were ...

Stefan Lovgren

Lancang-Mekong Cooperation: Blessing or curse?

The Lancang-Mekong Cooperation (LMC) marked its third anniversary last week with the announcement that China’s trade with the five Mekong member countries – Cambodia, Lao, Myanmar, Thailand and Vietnam – has reached over US$260 billion for the period, highlighting the overarching role China plays in ...

Jason Thomas

Mekong Delta facing grave drought, saltwater intrusion

The Mekong Delta is experiencing one of the hottest period of the year, starting right after Tet Holiday. Several areas in the region seriously lack freshwater, leading to a shortage of water supply for plants and crops. Simultaneously, saltwater intrusion becomes increasingly desperate in river ...

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